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The
Official Newspaper of Manchester and Delaware County, Iowa
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
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Hawks claim first WaMaC wrestling title since 2004
by Ken Boesenberg
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Last Saturday the West Delaware Hawk wrestling team traveled to Marion for the WaMaC Conference Tournament.
Heading into the days action the Hawks, along with three other teams, Independence, DeWitt Central and Western Dubuque all had aspirations of leaving Marion with a WaMaC Conference Championship.
The Mustangs of Independence had to be looked at as the favorites coming in as they are undefeated in dual meet competition in the conference thus far.
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The Hawks Zach McCool gets ready to put the Sabers Dylan Azinger on his back. Zach would pin Azinger for his 98th career pin and his fourth WaMaC Conference title becoming only the second Hawk wrestler to accomplish that feat. |
The Hawks, Sabers and Bobcats all thought that they may have a chance to catch Independence if everything went their way.
DeWitt Central held a slim lead after the first round of competition with the Mustangs and the Hawks right close behind.
After the semi-final round the Hawks had jumped into the lead by a slim eight point margin aided by seven finalists; (Nathan Vaske 112, Zach McCool 140, Adam Rave 152, Tyler Manternach 171, Carl Broghammer 189, Steven Broghammer 215, Paul Broghammer 285); three going for third place and one in the fifth, sixth place match.
When the mat dust finally settled the Hawks found themselves on top of the WaMaC heap with 225.5 points, 12.5 points ahead of Independence and 29.5 points in front of third place DeWitt Central.
In the finals round the Hawks Nathan Vaske made the first statement with a dominating 14-5 major decision over Ryan Hill of Vinton Shellsburg.
Vaske dominated the match from the opening whistle as he kept attacking Hill and countering any offensive move by the Viking.
The win was Nathan’s second straight WaMaC Conference title, having won the title over Hill last year at 103 pounds.
The Hawks next shot at a title came at 140 pounds where Zach McCool would attempt to become only the second wrestler in West Delaware history to win four conference titles.
Zach did what he has done all year long and that is attack, attack, attack. He was facing a very good wrestler in Dylan Azinger who is ranked fourth in Class 2A. The two had hooked up in DeWitt in a conference dual with McCool coming out on top 5-1.
This would be a different story however. Zach got in tight on Azinger, turned him to his back and recorded the fall just one minute and 34 seconds into the match.
That pin was number 98 of his career, win number 28 of the season and WaMaC Conference championship number four.
At the end of the day the WaMaC coaches handed Zach one more award as the Meet’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Kalen Lenz who won titles for the Hawks in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 is the only other wrestler in West Delaware history with four WaMaC Conference titles to his name.
The Hawks next finalist was Adam Rave at 152. Adam wrestled an outstanding match against a tough opponent in Brady Hopkins of Independence and posted a 4-3 decision win to claim his first ever WaMaC Conference championship.
Rave led 4-2 late in the match only to see his lead to shrink to one point with 20 seconds left when he was called for stalling.
The head to head match win over the Independence wrestler pretty much sealed the deal for the Hawks in the team race. Although nobody was letting on that that was the case.
The Hawks still had four more shots at individual champs with Tyler Manternach at 171, Carl Broghammer at 189, Steven Broghammer at 215 and Paul Broghammer at 285.
Tyler Manternach faced a very good wrestler from DeWitt Central, Jeremie Hahn. Hahn came out on top of a very hard fought match 7-0.
At 189, Carl Broghammer was up against the Independence Mustangs Nick O’Loughlin where O’Loughlin prevailed by a score of 5-1.
Steve Broghammer (215) hooked up with Matt Shannon of Independence with Shannon coming out on top 1-0 via an escape early in the second period.
Last on the mat for the Hawks with a chance to become a WaMaC Conference champ was the third of the three Broghammer brothers, Paul
Paul wrestled a very good match against DeWitt Central’s Casey Kreiter and posted a 9-4 decision for his first conference title.
As good as the Hawks performed in their finals matches on the center mat they also got some very good performances out of their other placement matches to play a big part in bringing home the conference team title.
Brett Yonkovic (119) racked up a 10-2 major decision over his opponent from Maquoketa to take third place in his first ever WaMaC Conference meet.
At 125 the Hawks Chris Ketchum also racked up a major decision, 10-0 over his opponent from Western Dubuque.
Wins plus bonus points, it doesn’t get much better than that when your in the hunt for a conference championship.
At 135 pounds junior Nick Ketchum had a tough match with his opponent form Western Dubuque as he ended up losing a 7-0 decision to finish in fourth place.
At 160 the Hawks Zach Boss was up against a wrestler from Maquoketa that had put him into the losers bracket with a 10-0 win earlier in the day. |
Hawks stay in thick of WaMaC race with wins over Maquoketa, Marion
by Ken Boesenberg |
West Delaware junior forward, Emily Heffernen hauls down one of her game high 15 rebounds against the Cardinals.
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The West Delaware girls basketball team upped their record to 13-3 overall and 11-2 in the WaMaC Conference with a pair of big wins last week.
The Hawks hosted the Cardinals of Maquoketa on Tuesday night where they used a 11-0 run to start the game and a 22-8 fourth quarter to down the Cardinals 58-25.
The Hawks were led in scoring by Sam Conrad with a season high 18 points and junior Emily Heffernen with 17 points. Senior Katie Wessels also hit double figures with 10 points, 8 of those coming in the first quarter.
The Hawks built their lead to 16-2 on a Katie Wessels bucket with 51 seconds left in the first quarter and led by 14 by quarters end when Emily Heffernen knocked down a jumper at the buzzer.
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West Delaware junior forward, Ashlee Allison brings the ball up the court during the Hawks 58-25 win over the Cardinals of Maquoketa last Tuesday night in Manchester. Later in the game Ashlee unfortunately reinjured her left knee and will be facing her second knee surgery in February. |
The play got a little ragged in the second quarter but the Hawk defense limited Maquoketa to just three points in the quarter.
Sam Conrad’s two free throws with just under a minute to go in the first half gave the Hawks their largest lead of the first half, 26-7.
Each team put 10 points on the board in the third quarter leaving West Delaware with a 36-17 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
Emily Heffernen led the Hawks charge in the fourth quarter, making five of six free throws and a pair of 2-point baskets for nine of her 17 points.
The Hawks allowed the Cardinals just two points over the final five and a half minutes of the game to win by 33 points, 58-25.
In the first meeting of the two teams earlier in the season the Hawks escaped Maquoketa with a three point victory, 48-45.
Game stats
vs. Maquoketa
FG’s - WD 20-41-49%, M 10-51-20%; FT’s - WD 17-24-71%, M 3-9-33%; |
assists - WD 21 (J. Hood 3, A. Hood 12, Heffernen 1, Allison 2, Bries 3); rebounds - WD 39 (Wessels 4, Conrad 8, J. Hood 1, A. Hood 3, Heffernen 15, Allison 5, Bries 1, Sailer 1, Vaske 1); blocked shots - WD 6 (Conrad 5, Heffernen 1); steals - WD 13 (Wessels 3, Conrad 1, J. Hood 1, A. Hood 2, Bries 4, Vaske 2); turnovers - WD 19, M 17; individual Hawk scoring - Katie Wessels 10, Sam Conrad 18, Jenny Hood 5, Emily Heffernen 17, Kayla Bries 4, Joslyn Sailer 2, Rebeka Hahn 2.
On Thursday night the Hawks traveled to Marion for a game with the Indians. On that, if they could win, would put some separation between the two clubs and keep the Hawks tied with Waterloo Columbus for the league lead.
Again the Hawks were facing a team that they had defeated by three points, 53-50 earlier in the season.
As with Waterloo Columbus and Maquoketa, this time around would be a different story. The Hawks would use a strong second half to defeat the Indians by a score of 58-44.
The Hawks hit 20 of 37 shots from the floor and cashed in on 13 of 24 free throws against the Indians.
Marion grabbed the lead early, leading 17-14 at the end of the first quarter and 28-26 at the half.
However, it was a Hawk 14-3 run to open the second half that proved to be the difference in the game. That run gave the Hawks a 10-point lead. The Hawks doubled the score on the Indians during the second half, 32-16 to win going away by 14 points.
Sisters Jenny and Ashley Hood had a good night shooting from behind the arc as they combined to make 5 of 11 three-pointers. Both of Ashley’s came from well behind the arc, a half court shot to end the third quarter and a 30-foot bomb for the final points of the game.
Jenny dropped in three of her seven three-point shots as she led the Hawks in scoring with 14 points.
Sam Conrad and Katie Wessels provided some huge fire power from inside, each scoring 13 points.
Game stats
vs. Marion
FG’s - WD 20-37-54%, M 18-56-32%; FT’s - WD 13-25-52%, M 4-6-67%; assists - WD 20 (Wessels 2, Conrad 1, J. Hood 4, A. Hood 11, Bries 2); rebounds - WD 27 (Wessels 7, Conrad 4, J. Hood 5, A. Hood 1, Heffernen 6, Bries 4), M 28; blocked shots - WD 2 (Conrad 2); steals - WD 9 (Conrad 1, J. Hood 3, A. Hood 3, Bries 2); turnovers - WD 16, M 14; individual Hawk scoring - Katie Wessels 13, Sam Conrad 13, Jenny Hood 14, Ashley Hood 8, Emily Heffernen 8, Kayla Bries 2.
The win keeps the Hawks right in the hunt for a WaMaC Conference title. They will need a little help along the way even if they take care of business and win out.
The teams battling at the top of the conference are all getting state recognition with Benton Community ranked 11th in Class 3A, Marion 13th and the Hawks 14th while Waterloo Columbus is ranked 13th in Class 2A.
The Hawks will have a pair of conference home games this week. On Tuesday night Vinton will be in town and Thursday night will see the Dyersville Beckman Blazers visiting Manchester.
A pair of wins this week would bring the Hawks win total to 15 which would tie them for the third most wins in school history (5 on 5) with the 1985-86 team that posted a 15-6 record under Coach Glenda Thielbert.
The two winningest teams were the 2001-02 and the 2002-03 teams that won 16 and 20 games respectively.
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Manchester Press 2005-2006
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